Kettering MP takes Royal Hotel asylum seeker accommodation concerns to immigration minister

Concerns over a proposal to house up to 150 asylum seekers at Kettering’s Royal Hotel have been raised with the UK’s immigration minister.

Kettering MP Philip Hollobone (Con) spoke in the House of Commons on Wednesday (November 16) and branded the Home Office plan ‘disgraceful’.

He requested an urgent meeting with minister Robert Jenrick (Con) and told him he couldn’t think of a worse location than the historic Market Place hotel, which once welcomed Queen Victoria.

Mr Hollobone told the House how the National Crime Agency had confirmed that Albanian organised crime gangs were ferrying young men to the UK to run cannabis farms, and that they were then being transported to communities to ‘infiltrate the local crime scene’ after claiming asylum.

He said: “One such community is Kettering, where there is a disgraceful proposal to house potentially up to 150 Albanian single males in a 50-room hotel with no kitchen facilities, slap bang in the middle of the town centre.

"This is the biggest night-time economy in north Northamptonshire, and it is near a family park. These young men will be milling around getting into all sorts of trouble.

"I cannot think of a worse location for an asylum hostel. Will the minister meet me as a matter of urgency so I can explain to him why the proposal should not go ahead?

"From where I am sitting, at this present time, His Majesty’s Government is neither protecting our shores nor protecting my local community from an increase in imported crime.”

Mr Jenrick replied: “My hon. Friend has raised important concerns, and I should be more than happy to meet him. He and I have already spoken, but a formal meeting would be an obvious next step.”

Earlier this month – on the day that asylum seekers were due to be transported to the hotel – North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) applied for an interim injunction in a bid to stop the proposal.

Days later their application was dismissed by the High Court but because NNC also issued a temporary stop notice – alleging a breach of planning control – asylum seekers cannot be moved there without the hotel risking a potential prosecution.

It is not yet known what will happen when the temporary stop notice expires in early December.

NNC leader Cllr Jason Smithers (Con) previously said: “North Northamptonshire Council takes its responsibility to asylum seekers very seriously. The council has previously offered to have discussions with the Home Office to help identify suitable hotels in the area and we welcome any information they can provide that will allow us to locate suitable alternative accommodation.

"We do not feel that the Royal Hotel in Kettering is the appropriate place to accommodate asylum seekers for a number of reasons. We do not feel the proposals have been properly considered to ensure the best possible welfare can be provided to asylum seekers and the local communities in which they are housed.”

This month hundreds of refugees had to be moved from an immigration centre in Manston, Kent, after concerns that it had become dangerously overcrowded.